Kyle Lohse didnā??t sign with the Brewers until March 25 last year, a delay he blames on new free agent compensation rules. / Benny Sieu, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX -- Milwaukee Brewers starter Kyle Lohse is waiting for the phone to ring - just like a year ago.

He knows shortstop Stephen Drew has to be miserable. Starter Ervin Santana must be livid. And slugger Kendrys Morales has to be confused.

If any of them or other free agents need to talk, Lohse says don't hesitate to call.

He was in the same position a year ago - sitting at home as the last marquee free agent and signing not until a week before opening day.

"Oh, was I so mad," Lohse tells USA TODAY Sports. "I couldn't believe it. I had to do something every day just to keep myself from going crazy.

"You feel so lonely out there. It's like you're the last kid at the dance. Anybody? Anybody?

"You don't want to see anybody go through this, and if anyone knows what those guys are going through, believe me, I do."

Lohse, who pitched three innings Thursday against the Colorado Rockies, not only didn't have a job a year ago, he didn't have an offer until March 15. He was coming off the best season of his career, going 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally signed March 25.

He was the first player dramatically affected by baseball's new free-agent compensation rules. It requires the teams with the 20 best records the previous seasons to forfeit a first-round draft pick, and future money in the draft, for signing a free-agent who rejected a qualifying offer from their previous club. The 10 teams with the worst record have their first pick protected.

It took 33 phone calls between agent Scott Boras and the Brewers, but Lohse finally received a three-year, $33 million contract. Still, the new free-agent compensation system cost him a minimum of $12 million, Boras says, and perhaps even a four-year, $60 million deal.

"I didn't want to talk about it last year because nobody feels sorry for you," Lohse says. "I don't want it to seem like I'm complaining about the kind of money we're making, or explaining it to a person who's struggling to feed their kids.

"But the reality is that (Major League Baseball) is not the real world we're living in, so when you have the opportunity to be a free agent, and have your market taken away, to me, that's not fair."

And to have three marquee free agents unemployed three weeks into spring training, Boras says is ruining the game.

"These rules are preventing fans from having the best players on their teams, teams that will be vying for the playoffs. The system has to be changed," Boras tells USA TODAY Sports. "Talent runs this industry. Talent to an owner is like a bar of soap. Without it, you're not going to smell good. This system stinks."

Boras, who represents Drew and Morales, argued during the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations in 2011 that the new rules would have an adverse impact on free agents. Now players union executive director Tony Clark has joined the chorus, hoping the provision will be modified before the CBA expires after the 2016 season.

"We believe it's in everyone's best interest that the teams who want the best players have an opportunity to access those best players," Clark says. "The idea that there is a climate right now that doesn't appear to afford everybody an opportunity to do so for whatever reason is a concern. How we change that going forward, we'll have to see."

If there is a change, MLB vice president Rob Manfred tells USA TODAY Sports, it won't be until the next labor agreement.

"Draft choice compensation is part of an integrated and complicated economic system," Manfred says. "I can't see how one part of that integrated system can be revisited in the middle of a Basic Agreement."

In the meantime, Santana, Drew and Morales continue to wait. They may not even sign until after the amateur draft in June, when they are no longer tied to draft pick compensation, says Boras.

Then again, several GMs and executives say maybe it's time for these players to look in the mirror. They all rejected the $14.1 million qualifying offers from their original teams, and when they hit the market, some of the rumored contract requests scared teams.

"I do see these numbers that come out early that say, 'Oh, he's going to get $100 million,'" Brewers GM Doug Melvin says. "You read that stuff, and then you say, well, there's no sense in me even making a phone call if those are the numbers."

And don't get Melvin started on the notion clubs are too protective of draft picks. It was a painful decision, Melvin says, forfeiting the 17th overall pick for Lohse, who went 11-10 with a 3.35 ERA last year.

"You hear people say, 'Well, what if the player doesn't make it,'" Melvin says. "That's not the sole purpose of a draft pick. You can use those picks for trades. I got CC (Sabathia) for Matt LaPorta, who was a first-round pick the year before. If we don't make that trade, we don't make the playoffs.

"I'm glad we have Kyle, but don't tell me that about overrated draft picks. Their asset value is huge."